Banking Union: Agreement on measures to prevent the accumulation of non-performing loans

The Commission welcomes the political agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on prudential measures to further address non-performing loans (NPLs) in Europe. The political agreement is an important step to further reduce risks in the EU banking sector and strengthen its resilience, as highlighted in

The agreed measures will ensure that banks set aside funds to cover the risks associated with loans issued in the future that may become non-performing. This will prevent the accumulation of non-performing exposures on banks' balance sheets and will ultimately enable banks to perform their indispensable role in financing the economy and supporting growth.

ValdisDombrovskis, Vice-President for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, said: “We have been working intensely over the past years to reduce risks and strengthen the resilience of the European banking sector. The agreement will ensure that banks will have fewer NPLs on their balance sheets, which should increase their solidity and allow them to finance our businesses. I am counting on the European Parliament and the Council to swiftly agree on the outstanding proposals on the development of secondary marketsfor NPLs and facilitating debt recovery.”

This measure is part of a set of actions presented by the Commission in March 2018 to tackle non-performing loans in the Union. It builds on ongoing efforts by Member States, supervisors, credit institutions towards a steady decrease in the number of NPLs across the Union.